Manufacture of one-piece felt hats.



P. LT. MUHLFELD. MANUFACTURE OF ONE PIECE FELT HATS APPLICATION IILED'APR. 4,1908.

Patented Sept. 29, 1908..

2 SHEBTS-SHEET 1.

F. J. MUHLFE LD. MANUFACTURE OF ONE PIEGE FELT HATS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 4, 1908.

Patented Sept. 29, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

. To all whom it concern."

. brim.

'FRANK J. MUH LFELD, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

No. 899,887. Y

Specification of Letters Patent.

MANUFACTURE. OF ONE-PIECE FELT HATS.

Patented Sept. 29,1908.

- Application filed April 4, 1908. Serial No. 425,090.

Be it known that I, FRANK J. MUHLFELD, a citizen of the United States, residing at N o. 770 East One Hundred and Seventy-fifth street, New York, county of New York, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful, Improvements in the Manufacture. of One-Piece Felt Hats, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the samei v The object of this invention is to facilitate the manufacture of a one-piece felt hat with a brim and ahead-opening smaller than that portion of the crown adjacent 'to the brim, and the invention consists in first blockin the body, including the felt intended for the brim, into a general cylindrical shape and, in the up 'er part, of the diameter desired for the finis ed crown, then supporting such upper part upon a hat-block of the shape and size desired for the entire finished crown, clamping the edge of the.body,'and contracting t e portion between the bottom of said crown and such edge into a band of the size desired for the head-openin and then working such. head-band up tot e bottom of the crown and expanding the edge of the body into the form desired for the brim.

This process may be employed with hatblocks of different shapes, whether round, oval, perpendicular to form a vertical crown, or slanting to form an oblique crown; but in all cases it produces a fold which extends inwardly fromthe base of thecrown to the head-opening'and thence outwardly into the between the crown and the inner portionof the brim next the head-opening, which is of the channel, above the brim.

The product of the process which is described may be the same as that claimed in my Patent No. 796,923 dated August 8, 1905, and I have not, therefore, claimed such a,product herein; but the present invention is also ca able of producing a different article for wh ich I. have made specific claims. The process of my present invention ls the exactopp'osite of that employed in the said G This fold forms a narrow flat channel :ducers for the head-o patent, only the first step, namely, the blocking of the hat-body, being the same as both processes, but the crown in the patented process being expanded above .the

head-band which isformed by the hat-block.

In the present process the hat-body is blocked in the commencement to the final size desired and neither requires or receives any subsequent expansion, and it is only the head-band which 1s roduced by the subsequent treatment,.an such treatment Is the reverse of ex ansion, as it consists in contracting the elt below the hat-block to the size desired. The product of the resent invention also diflers from those ate in g which the lower part of the crown is contracted to form a so-called bell-crowned hat, as such bell-crowned hats commonly have the head-opening of the same size as the bottom of the crown, which in bell-crowned hats slopes from the upper art of the crown directly to the brim at ,t e band, which is coincident with the head-openin In the present invention, tie bottom of the crown, which corresponds with the band of previous constructions, is not of the same size as the head-opening, but is connected therewith by a fiat-annular portion of the felt,

- which is extended inwardly from the bottom of the crown to the head-opening, upon the upper side of the fold which forms the head- I I opemng.

The invention may be applied to hats having crowns and brims of any desired form, provided a smaller head-opening is desired than the bottom portion of the crown, and it entirely supersedes the necessity of using repening, such as are shown in my Patent No. 769,558 dated September 6, 1904.

The invention will be understood by reference to the annexed drawing, in which Figure 1 is a diagram showing the conical hat-body; Fig. 2 the body stretched u on a hat-block into a general cylindrical s ape; Fig. 3 the edge of the body clam ed and the ortion intermediate to such e go and the Bottomof the hat-block'contract'ed at the middle of its height to the size desired for the head-opening; Fig. 4 shows the contracted ortion worked u to the bottom of the hatlock and the fe t below the same stretched while the brim isgdrawn flat or parallel with the bottom of the head-block; and Fig. 6

partially outward to form the brim; Fig.5 'shows the head-band held in shape shows the finished product. Fig. 7 is a vertical section of the finished roduct with the crown brought close to the rim; 'and Fig. 8 is an edge view of a hat with an oblique crown and the brim curved by flanging.

Figs. 9 and were views similar to Figs 3. and

a designates the hat-body in Fig. 1, b the Y hat-block in Fig. 2 upon which the bod a is shown blocked to a general cylindrical s ape,

' connected b lever (1 W 1 i shown in Fig. 12, and the hand-lever thrown with the edge e of the felt bent outwardly to be held during such operation. p

In Fig. 3, the felt between the bottom of the hat-block b and the ed e c is contracted, as b a thin divided ring into the size desire for the headband,such contraction necessitating the ap roximation of the block b to the edge a of t ebody as the felt is contracted.

Figs. 9 and 10 show clamps c for clamping the edge 0 of the body during the process; the block I) being shown mounted upon a spindle b by which it can be raised or lowered as maybe desired, to'approximate the block to the edge of the body. The divided ring may be made of any suitable construction, one form being shown in Figs. 11 and 13 with two opposite side sections (1 having a separable joint, as a snap-button d at the1r outer ends, to connect and disconnect them, and having their opposite ends a jointed link 11 and a handen the ends (1 are connected, as

over theadjacent side section, the ring has a circular form ;but when the hand lever is thrown outward and the snap-button is disconnected, the ring may be widely opened to place around the hat-body at below the hatlock. In connecting the free ends of the side sections, the felt is then crum led inside of the ring, but the working of t 'e ring u and down, and the manipulation of the fe t.

by the hands or by a suitable slicker, operates to work out the wrinkles and to contract the felt to the desired shape.

Fig. 4 shows the ring worked up to the bottom of the hat-block, thus forming the headband at the bottom of the crown, and the closel body-portion a below such ring stretched partly/into the form of the brim, requiring the block and the edge 0 to be yet more approximated, which is readily effecte by owering the block in the desired degree by means of its s indle b.

Fig. 5 shows the portion a stretched into seasw" the flat brim f parallel with the bottom of the crown,- the bottom of the block and the edge of the brim being brought to the same level in this final step of the process, and the ring d serving to hold the band in place during the stretching of the brim. The clamps c are in practice constructed to slide outwardlyfor thus stretching the brim; but the clamps are not claimed herein. The hat-block b is retained within the crown until the hat is finished, and is made, as is common in such constructions, of sections which can be withdrawn successively from the contracted a erture of the head-band. Such hat-blocrs are used in all hat manufacture where the head-opening is smaller than the crown.

Fig. 6 shows the finished product with crown e having a fold 9 extended inward from its base to the head-opening 71., forming a narrow flat channel '1'. between the bottom of the crown and the brim f. Where desired, the adjacent walls of this channel may be readily secured together by cement or stitching so as to make the bottom of the ,crown set close to the brim, as shown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 8 is an external view of the hat having an oblique crown with the channel open between the base of the crown and the brim, and the brim curved upward and downward at op osite edges by any ordinary means. The illiistration in Fig. 8 is introduced merely to show that the invention is not limited to straight crowns or brims.

By the use. of sectional hat-blocks and flanges of suitable shape, the crown and hat may be finished in any desired style; but always possesses the channel g either open as shown in Figs. 6 and 8, or closed as shown in Fi 7, as a c aracteristic of its manufacture.

am aware that hats have been blocked upon a block provided with a flange to support the brim of a hat, such block having a shallow groove or crease around the base of the crown to form a break between the base of the crown and the brim of the hat.

Such break does not furnish a crown witha head-opening materially smaller than that portion of the crown adjacent to the brim, as the shallow groove in the hat block is not sufficient to form a flat channel having flatsides between the brim and the bottom of the crown at their junction. Such flat channel can only be formed by the rocess de- 1 crown adjacent to the brim, which consists in firstblocking the body including the felt intended for the brim into a generalcylim drical shape and of the size desired for the finished crown, second, supporting the upper part of such body in the shape deslred for the entire crown, and clamping the edge of the body, and third, contracting the felt close to the bottom of the crown to the size desired for the head-band and expanding the felt below such contracted portion into the form desired for the brim.

2. The process of manufacturing a onepiece felt hat with a brim and having a headopening smaller than that portion of thev crownfadjacent to the brim, which consists in first blocking the body including the felt intended for the brim into a general cylin drical shape and of the size desired for the 4 finished crown, second, supporting the upper part of such body in the shape desired for the entire crown, clamping the edge of the body, and contracting the portion between the bottom of said crown and such edge into a bandof the size desired for the head-opening, and

third, working such contracted portlon or.

head-band up to the bottom of the crown and expanding the edge of thebody into the form desired for the brim. V

.3. The process of manufacturing a onepiece felt hat with a brim and having a headopening smaller than that portion of the' crown adjacent to the brim, which consists in first blocking the body including the felt intended for the brim into a general cylindrical shape and'of the size desired for the finished crown, second, supporting the upper part-of such'body in the shape desired for the entire crownfand clamping the ed 0 of the.

body, and third, working the felt ad acent to the bottom of the crown into a flatnarrow groove to form the contracted head-opening, and simultaneously expanding-the felt below such groove to form a brim adjacent to the lower side of such groove.

4. The process of manufacturing a one piece felt hat with a brim and having a headopening smaller than that ortion of the crown adjacent to the brim, w 'ch consists in first bloc ng the body including the felt intended for the brim into a general cylindrical shape and of the size desired for the.

-5. As a new article of manufacture, a onepiece felt hat having a crown and brim withead-openin smaller than that portion of the crown a jacent to the brim, with a nar-' rowflat channel between the brim and bottom of the crown at their junction such channel having parallel sides.

6. As a new article of manufacture, a oneiece felt hat having a crown and brim with head-opening smaller than that portion of the crown adjacent to the brim, with a narrow flat channel between the brim and the bottom of the crown at their junction, such channel having parallel sides and the adjacent walls of the said channel secured together to close the channel and hold the bottom of the crown close to the brim.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing wltnesses.

FRANK J. MUHLFELD. Witnesses:

L. LEE,

Tnoms S. CRANE. 

